‘His Three Daughters’ Review: A Cathartic Family Drama

At its core, His Three Daughters concerns itself with topics of life and regret, and the talkative nature of the movie works very well in its favour. Read on for the full review.

In Azazel Jacob’s His Three Daughters, time is of the essence, for Vincent (Jay O. Sanders) after his battle with cancer now stares directly at the face of death. Time is running out; it is with this sense of urgency that we meet Vincent’s daughters, as they meet each other, three estranged sisters reunited in their NYC apartment to be with their father at the moment of passing.

The interpersonal relationship between the sisters is caustic and embittered. They kvetch, they rage, they reconcile, and they choose love and forgiveness to try to attempt to understand one another. It’s about living a life with no regrets. This is not your run-of-the-mill family drama.

That sweet film grain borne out of 35mm photography by Sam Levy, invokes the sensibilities of Nouvelle Vague. Jacob productively plays with the single-location setting, locating the camera in nooky crook places to capture the solitude amidst chaos.

It’s in this chaos and tragedy that these sisters find solace in their sisterhood. The film opens with the first daughter, Katie (Carrie Coon) a little prissy in nature, she automatically assumes a sense of authority. Her sensibilities clouded by the responsibilites, and she is often irritable by small inconveniences. This often results in a rough confrontation with Rachel (Natasha Lyonne).

Rachel, who at first glance appears to be a counterculture doper, reveals herself to be the most sensitive and vulnerable character in the film. She uses sports betting as a sense of coping mechanism. While her arc begins in neglect, she ends up feeling so ripe by the end of the film. Lyonne gives a knockout performance, perhaps her best to date. Christina (Elizabeth Olsen) the mollycoddler acts as a mediator between Katie and Rachel, trying her best to let things from running amok, taming that storm. It’s a talky movie with well written dialogues leading to many moments of situational comedy.

Most notably, Benjy (Jovan Adepo) by externalizing his issues about the treatment of Rachel by Katie allows us an interiority into the lives of both Rachel and Vincent and their deep bond. Vincent himself is not shown explicitly for a significant part of the film, an abstract entity that almost seems to be omnipresent as a ghost even before his death occurs. The man with three daughters lives with one regret and it’s a regret that’s common among earthly beings, the regret of omission of the things that shouldn’t be omitted.

All these acts of acceptance lead to a very cathartic denouement, all these confrontations lead to a moment of serenity, the sisters overcoming grief, cause what is grief if not just love with no place to go and the father reminding us mortals to lead a life without any regrets.

After winning hearts at TIFF last year, the films finally lands in the sea of Netflix “content” (slop).

His Three Daughters is directed by Azazel Jacobs and stars Carrie Coon, Natasha Lyonne, and Elizabeth Olsen. The film is now streaming on Netflix worldwide.

Thanks for reading this review.